... Recently I bought some ifi products the first one was defective and the second was iffi in performanc. Ifi did nothing, I got to jump through hoops and it led to nowhere. ...
This is interesting. They are incredibly well regarded and reviewed. I have never heard one for myself, but, as the Audioquest Dragonfly, they are usually in the 'components to beat and measure all others with' category. I myself have never had this urge to get those.
... source a case and voila here is your amps that I bet Rafta could build on his own. On top of that they charge a small forturne for parts they did not develop they charge it because there oem and its hard for diy amp builders to buy.
And when I started asking some serious questions on there amps and Its funny how cagy and defensive one owner got, but guess what manufacturer had all the info I needed.
I agree!!! That's why I have turned into the DIY world, where geniuses like Nelson Pass are actually giving away their designs to the world. You buy whatever part you feel is right, as expensive or as cheap as you are willing to go. These are mostly class A beasts, some ABs and some even tubes. But yes, exactly, you don't get charged at all!
... Or take ps audio he seems like a great guy on all his youtube videos but all he is doing is trying to sell ps audio and unfortunately a lot of what he says can not be proven. ...
I find him quite a down-to-earth man. Sometimes he says: "I didn't believe that changing a fuse would help, but they showed it to me and I couldn't believe my ears". At least he is honest into what he thought and his confusion when things turn out differently.
Curiously enough, I have had your same feeling here, I'm sad to say. I have always read Jason Lim's approach to things with great empathy and in the same "wavelength' as me: "guys, don't go buying $300 cables or $1000 fuses, they make little difference to the sound, invest in better amps or dacs or speakers!!".... Bravo!!! That's what I wanted to hear from a great manufacturer of great products... but wait: "no, no, no... wait, power does make a difference, just not THOSE cables or fuses, buy my own power regulator that I have now built". Common... what happened? Were was all this down-to-earth approach. And when I ask technical stuff (precisely because the price of the regulator is not far from PS Audio regenerators which are a whole other ball game!) I got the same iffy results you claim from other manufacturers. I really hated that.
And then came the EVO line, and even more iffy responses, specially regarding the claimed-to-be swappable OP-AMPS. It would have taken 3 seconds to answer the type of op-amp, voltage getting to the chip and requirements. Yet, I got a very elusive answer. Perhaps they don't want you to know that all the amp is being done by a $2 chip? No idea, if they had answered, I wouldn't have those suspicions. Why didn't they? Only they know.
Sorry guys you both bummed me out.
I apologize for that. I must say that I started very involved here: made lots of suggestions specially about the web page, promoting stuff, giving more technical info for those that want it (for instance, I finally got Jason to post that the ST-10s are phase inverting officially). I wrote my stories. I love the nuprime products and they are the core of my system! But I have changed my view in how they promote their stuff from "hey, I love their take and perspective" to "mmm... they are now goin backwards and they behave like other companies I don't agree with".
I am happy to be proven wrong! I would love nothing more than to get back into the nuPrime wagon and be happy with every product out there and convinced it was the best option for my hard saved money. The current line-up does not reflect this feeling from me.
I still think there is usefulness in sharing those feelings, but, part of the issues, is that any negative opinion or direct comparison to a similar product from other brand gets banned here quicker than Notre Dame's ceiling burning away. I don't think that's healthy. I think it would be great that people were faced with the pros and cons and decided by themselves which to keep. If you are only presented with pros, you start wondering what cons they are hiding. If no one is allowed to compare (positively or negatively) to similar equipment, how do you make up your mind?
Perhaps it was THAT attitude that first started to push me away from NuPrime. Jason, please, please! Let people say bad things, let people compare to other products. If you have the best out there, it will come through (obviously you cannot always please everyone!). But if you prevent people from voicing dislike of better options, you are not favoring a healthy environment. Win because your products are the best, not because you keep others in the dark about other options.
That is my take to my work as well, and I have sent people to my competing software because they were better fit for them. I would expect everyone to be like that and we would have a much healthier group and less people unhappy with their choices.
That is my take on this. Nothing more,
Best regards,
Rafa.